Caricature Resolution, an annual drawing challenge organized by an international team of artists, kicks off every year on January first. The goal is to draw one predetermined celebrity caricature per day in a style of your choosing. This year the them was "31 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" - starting with Steve Buscemi, each subject has worked on a film with the previous subject, running down the line until we inevitably end up with Kevin Bacon! I've only completed this challenge once before, and all of my drawings for that one were in black and white. This time around, I decided to try color. I've been wanting to learn certain tools within Procreate and push my own skills with color and value, so that was the goal. With each new day and each subject comes an opportunity to crash or soar, and I wasn't without my misses. Early on, I botched my attempt at Daniel Radcliffe by trying to mix and match reference photos that were decades apart, and trying to push myself to complete it in under an hour. He ended up looking more like David Tennant. Conversely, I spent a lot of time on Samara Weaving, drawing her full posture as she appeared in Bill & Ted Face the Music - ultimately I felt I did not achieve what I set out to, and so I cropped it to just her head. Amber Heard provided a significant amount of challenge due to my own familiarity with her legal cases more than her acting career. Tilda Swinton fell on a rough day for me mentally, and I struggled to capture her and still really dropped the ball. And for some reason, I decided it would be smart for me to try to draw Maisie Williams with her current bleached hair and brows look, instead of her more recognizable appearance from Game of Thrones. And apologies to Zendaya for accidentally drawing Stephen Tyler and apologies to Fred Ward for deliberately drawing Karl Havoc.
I did have some wins, though! I'm personally very pleased with my Keanu Reeves, Ana De Armas, Anya Taylor-Joy, Tom Hardy, and Danny Trejo (even got shared by Trejo on Instragram!) David Spade liked my drawing of him, and Chris Evans gave a shout out to all of the Caricature Resolution artists. And on top of that, I developed some new techniques for doing this style of work. Overall, Caricature Resolution 2022 has been a success, and the organizers deserve a standing ovation for continuing the tradition. Search #caricatureresolution2022 on social media to see the works of other participating artists!